Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
Home
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
Search
Search titles only
By:
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Install the app
Install
Reply to Thread
Guest, we'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the
Diabetes Forum Survey 2024 »
Home
Forums
Off-Topic
General Chat
Bill's Travels
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Message
<blockquote data-quote="BillB" data-source="post: 2245831" data-attributes="member: 9985"><p>I awoke just after 2 a.m. and, as I lay there, I could hear the gusts of wind hitting the seaward side of the building. It was almost high tide now and the roar of the waves was a loud accompaniment. I got out of bed and went to the window and what a spectacle I was faced with. The waves came rolling in to hit the sea wall with a rumbling thud, its force throwing the spray high into the air, almost as high as our room.</p><p></p><p>On top of the sea wall outside the hotel a row of flagpoles had been set up many years previously. Their tops are level with our windows and the waves would come rushing in, hit the sea wall and be flung upwards, level with the tips of the flagpoles. Great screens of spray would hurtle towards me, completely blocking my view of anything behind them. The wind ripped the spray apart, splattering it against the window. The body of the wave washed over the top of the seawall and rushed across the promenade to reach the hotel’s facade. It poured back to the sea wall, leaving a layer of shingle across the promenade. I’ve never been so close to such a powerful storm, yet I stood there in my pyjamas and felt totally secure. Perhaps I was still half asleep.</p><p></p><p>Next morning I went to look out the window, only to find them coated with a thin layer of salt where the spray had kept hitting them.</p><p></p><p>The restaurant where breakfast was served was on the ground floor. Luckily, the tide had fallen considerably and thought he waves continued to smash onto the beach, very little spray was reaching the restaurant windows, which had been cleaned of their overnight coating of salt.</p><p></p><p>Our target for the day was a visit to the Crécy battlefield, generally regarded as the first major battle of the 100 Years War, with the English army commanded by King Edward III. It took place on 26th August, 1346, and resulted in a crushing defeat for the French army, under King Philip VI of France.</p><p></p><p>King Edward had claimed the throne of France after the death of King Philip IV. Naturally, the French contested this and the two countries went to war against each other.</p><p></p><p>Without wishing to turn this into a long drawn out history book, I should like to avoid going into the twists and turns in the story and concentrate solely on the battle.</p><p></p><p>The village of Crécy-en-Ponthieu is only about 45 minutes drive from Wimereux, mostly motorway with the last section cross country rural roads. There wasn’t much traffic so the drive was pleasant, passing through agricultural villages and hamlets.</p><p></p><p>When we arrived in Crécy itself we began looking first for the museum, deciding that it would give us a clearer background to the action of the battle, although I had already done some research oniine. The museum wasn’t difficult to find and I was able to park nearby. But that was the good news.</p><p></p><p>We made our way into the small couryard where the museum entrance was to be found. There were two signs: one giving the opening times of the museum, and the other informing visitors that the museum would be closing at the end of October. I knew the museum closed for the winter months so I wasn’t too concerned, but the more we looked around, the more convinced we became that it was permanently closed. There seemed to be no one around we could ask so we returned to our car and went looking for the battlefield itself.</p><p></p><p>This proved a simple task as a couple of minutes’ drive brought us to a road sign that said: Champ de Bataille. We turned onto the road indicated and another couple of minutes brought us to the small parking lot for visitors.</p><p></p><p>At the time of the battle there had been a mill almost in the centre of the English lines. This mill, naturally, no longer exists but the town has built an observation tower with three floors on its site which allows you to climb and see a different view of the battlefield at each level.</p><p></p><p>One of the advantages that the English had is that the area where they lined up is at the top of a slope. When the French arrived they had a misleading view: the slope looked far less steep than it really was.</p><p></p><p>The English lined up at the top of the slope, the longbow archers at the front, protected by sharpened stakes, while the mounted knights were situated behind. The Black Prince, aged just 16, commanded the right of the line. The English had spent time digging holes ahead of their position to bring down the French knights.</p><p></p><p>The French vanguard was headed by Genoese crossbowmen who were at an enormous disadvantage in comparison with the longbow archers in that longbowmen could shoot 4 or 5 arrows in the time that the crossbowmen could fire one, reload, and fire again.</p><p></p><p>The battle began in the late afternoon but before any movement took place a rainstorm drenched the battlefield. The English archers, experienced bowmen that they were, unstrung their bowstrings, rolled them up and protected them underneath their headgear. The Genoese could not unstring their bows easily, which meant that theirs were thoroughly drenched while the English bowmen had comparatively dry strings.</p><p></p><p>The Genoese advanced, up the slope, and started shooting the bolts. Being shot with damp strings, their bolts fell short of the English lines, while the English responded with a cloud of arrows that wreaked havoc on the crossbowmen, who began to retreat under the hail of death that poured out of the sky. The forward units of the French cavalry began to advance ahead of the rest of the army. They rode down the retreating Genoese, killing them by trampling. However, the horsemen found themselves charging up a slope that was far steeper than they realised Their charges began to slow</p><p></p><p>An armoured knight at full charge was a formidable opponent. A line of them was almost unstoppable, their weight, their almost impregnable armour, their heavy horses were fearsome and could smash their way through lines of pikemen or foot soldiers. They had one fatal weakness however: once unhorsed they were almost useless as the heavy armour made them cumbersome and slow with the likelihood of being pressed into the mud by following knights until they suffocated.</p><p></p><p>The English bowmen knew precisely what to do - kill the horses. And at Crécy that is exactly what they did. They aimed their arrows high into the air so that they descended almost vertically and thus would pierce the horses’ neck or back. French knights began to go down as their horses took the arrows. Many of those who managed to survive that were then tripped and fell by the holes the English had dug the night before. Behind the holes were lines of sharpened stakes and no horse, no matter how much training it has received, will charge onto sharpened stakes.</p><p></p><p>Charge after charge was stopped by the 10,000 English archers and by nightfall the battle was over, nearly a third of the French army lying dead on the battlefield.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BillB, post: 2245831, member: 9985"] I awoke just after 2 a.m. and, as I lay there, I could hear the gusts of wind hitting the seaward side of the building. It was almost high tide now and the roar of the waves was a loud accompaniment. I got out of bed and went to the window and what a spectacle I was faced with. The waves came rolling in to hit the sea wall with a rumbling thud, its force throwing the spray high into the air, almost as high as our room. On top of the sea wall outside the hotel a row of flagpoles had been set up many years previously. Their tops are level with our windows and the waves would come rushing in, hit the sea wall and be flung upwards, level with the tips of the flagpoles. Great screens of spray would hurtle towards me, completely blocking my view of anything behind them. The wind ripped the spray apart, splattering it against the window. The body of the wave washed over the top of the seawall and rushed across the promenade to reach the hotel’s facade. It poured back to the sea wall, leaving a layer of shingle across the promenade. I’ve never been so close to such a powerful storm, yet I stood there in my pyjamas and felt totally secure. Perhaps I was still half asleep. Next morning I went to look out the window, only to find them coated with a thin layer of salt where the spray had kept hitting them. The restaurant where breakfast was served was on the ground floor. Luckily, the tide had fallen considerably and thought he waves continued to smash onto the beach, very little spray was reaching the restaurant windows, which had been cleaned of their overnight coating of salt. Our target for the day was a visit to the Crécy battlefield, generally regarded as the first major battle of the 100 Years War, with the English army commanded by King Edward III. It took place on 26th August, 1346, and resulted in a crushing defeat for the French army, under King Philip VI of France. King Edward had claimed the throne of France after the death of King Philip IV. Naturally, the French contested this and the two countries went to war against each other. Without wishing to turn this into a long drawn out history book, I should like to avoid going into the twists and turns in the story and concentrate solely on the battle. The village of Crécy-en-Ponthieu is only about 45 minutes drive from Wimereux, mostly motorway with the last section cross country rural roads. There wasn’t much traffic so the drive was pleasant, passing through agricultural villages and hamlets. When we arrived in Crécy itself we began looking first for the museum, deciding that it would give us a clearer background to the action of the battle, although I had already done some research oniine. The museum wasn’t difficult to find and I was able to park nearby. But that was the good news. We made our way into the small couryard where the museum entrance was to be found. There were two signs: one giving the opening times of the museum, and the other informing visitors that the museum would be closing at the end of October. I knew the museum closed for the winter months so I wasn’t too concerned, but the more we looked around, the more convinced we became that it was permanently closed. There seemed to be no one around we could ask so we returned to our car and went looking for the battlefield itself. This proved a simple task as a couple of minutes’ drive brought us to a road sign that said: Champ de Bataille. We turned onto the road indicated and another couple of minutes brought us to the small parking lot for visitors. At the time of the battle there had been a mill almost in the centre of the English lines. This mill, naturally, no longer exists but the town has built an observation tower with three floors on its site which allows you to climb and see a different view of the battlefield at each level. One of the advantages that the English had is that the area where they lined up is at the top of a slope. When the French arrived they had a misleading view: the slope looked far less steep than it really was. The English lined up at the top of the slope, the longbow archers at the front, protected by sharpened stakes, while the mounted knights were situated behind. The Black Prince, aged just 16, commanded the right of the line. The English had spent time digging holes ahead of their position to bring down the French knights. The French vanguard was headed by Genoese crossbowmen who were at an enormous disadvantage in comparison with the longbow archers in that longbowmen could shoot 4 or 5 arrows in the time that the crossbowmen could fire one, reload, and fire again. The battle began in the late afternoon but before any movement took place a rainstorm drenched the battlefield. The English archers, experienced bowmen that they were, unstrung their bowstrings, rolled them up and protected them underneath their headgear. The Genoese could not unstring their bows easily, which meant that theirs were thoroughly drenched while the English bowmen had comparatively dry strings. The Genoese advanced, up the slope, and started shooting the bolts. Being shot with damp strings, their bolts fell short of the English lines, while the English responded with a cloud of arrows that wreaked havoc on the crossbowmen, who began to retreat under the hail of death that poured out of the sky. The forward units of the French cavalry began to advance ahead of the rest of the army. They rode down the retreating Genoese, killing them by trampling. However, the horsemen found themselves charging up a slope that was far steeper than they realised Their charges began to slow An armoured knight at full charge was a formidable opponent. A line of them was almost unstoppable, their weight, their almost impregnable armour, their heavy horses were fearsome and could smash their way through lines of pikemen or foot soldiers. They had one fatal weakness however: once unhorsed they were almost useless as the heavy armour made them cumbersome and slow with the likelihood of being pressed into the mud by following knights until they suffocated. The English bowmen knew precisely what to do - kill the horses. And at Crécy that is exactly what they did. They aimed their arrows high into the air so that they descended almost vertically and thus would pierce the horses’ neck or back. French knights began to go down as their horses took the arrows. Many of those who managed to survive that were then tripped and fell by the holes the English had dug the night before. Behind the holes were lines of sharpened stakes and no horse, no matter how much training it has received, will charge onto sharpened stakes. Charge after charge was stopped by the 10,000 English archers and by nightfall the battle was over, nearly a third of the French army lying dead on the battlefield. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post Reply
Home
Forums
Off-Topic
General Chat
Bill's Travels
Top
Bottom
Find support, ask questions and share your experiences. Ad free.
Join the community »
This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn More.…